We know our stuff. Most of us have danced for decades. We have taught for years. Our accolades run long and proud. We’ve trained our faces off, we’ve performed for big names and in small blackboxes in Brooklyn alike, we KNOW. When we don’t, we ask. We’ve read all books. Watched every form of dance on film from VHS tapes to Instagram videos. We go to conventions. We still take class. We read the articles, we subscribe to the magazines. Again, we KNOW our stuff. We demonstrate what we want, full out. But - and here comes a huge but - what are we SAYING to our students? Is it helping them? Are we communicating what we truly wish to? Are we getting across? This is where my love of movement and linguistic ability meet: how to *talk* about movement. I’m constantly seeking new ways to say things, for my own entertainment to be honest, but most importantly for my students’ absorption of material. Here are a few things I’ve learned from experience over the last few years:

1). Saying “don’t” helps no one. Offer a fix to the problem instead “Don’t drop your heels” won’t work. “Keep pulling your heels up” is way more effective. It’s a simple positive reinforcement versus negative talk thing. You can find this concept in any children’s development book. Teachers of movement seem to still be tied to the “don’t do this” idea. Hey, I catch myself doing it sometimes. The thing is, plain and simple, and I’ve experienced this with my students, they won’t arrive at what you want if you keep telling them what you do NOT want. They’re working on a skill, or warming up. The music is playing, they’re watching themselves in the mirror. They’re human and young, so it’s likely that on top of all that they’re pretty self-conscious about… something. Their bodies, hair, faces, zits, or gd forbid, even their dance technique. Give them what they need, not what they should stop doing. Offer the solution, not the problem.2). Dance holds no “holds”. Everything is constantly moving Energy can’t be created, only transformed. I learned this in my own dancing years ago, how much more stamina I could have if I just never stopped moving. Yes, Luigi said it. Many other master teachers have as well. If you are constantly growing somewhere, you keep using and renewing the energy over and over. Your dancing is longer, leaner, and ultimately stronger. Your muscles are constantly firing and your technique never stops improving. So I recently abolished the word HOLD from my dance teaching. There are no holds. If I want them to balance in position, I say “keep growing”, or “keep pulling up” or “rise, taller, higher” until the next placement of energy. Game changer! I can see it in their faces. I can certainly see it in their dancing! "Don't take the movement out of dance", I tell them often. 3). Breathe fresh and funny into your speaking/teaching You don’t need to be Shakespeare or a stand-up comedian to have great prose and be funny. We all say unexpected things that people enjoy. Bring those to your movement teaching, fearlessly. Your students will snap out of routine, and inevitably will pay more attention to what you’re saying and trying to have them learn. Just this last week I said things like “polish the floor” while trying to get them to connect to the floor during tendus. I also said “get some air” while they jump up. I’ve said “mind your booty” instead of “drop your tailbone”. I’ve said “heart out” to get them to lift up their chests and presence. I’ve said “belly button to the nose and the back wall” instead of “pull up from your core”. I think you get the idea. Change it up. Make it funny. Keep it interesting. Use whatever reference you want. Some will work beautifully, some will fall flat. Who cares? They’re learning, and hopefully, so are you!4). Say it, say it again, say it differently. Rinse, repeat I know it’s easy to get frustrated. How many times have you said X, Y, and Z, right? Hey, that’s teaching. It won’t happen overnight, they won’t learn it in a day. Consistency in what you believe to be correct is key. You are trying to get them to go somewhere, but each student will take an entirely different route. So repeat what you mean, using different words. It’s what I’ve said above: keep it fresh. But DO repeat. They need to hear it a thousand times, especially the younger ones. Then one day they’ll go “oh, that’s what you mean!”. When that happens, smile. This is what teaching is.5). Know when to shut up (this one is especially for me!) That’s a little rude of me, I apologize. Lord knows I’m the world’s biggest offender. I know where it comes from - I want to help them so much! I want them to learn. Get better. Become ABT ballerinas, get Broadway gigs, become Radio City stars. I really do. I want all their wildest dreams to come true, and I’m sure you feel the same way. So with that in mind we talk, we yell, we overcorrect, we just won’t shut up. We have to, seriously. Sometimes they have to let stuff sink in for a moment. Sometimes the overload of information will make them frustrated, tired, overwhelmed. That’s when we let the music play, and allow them to enjoy the work they’re doing. When do these moments occur, you ask? Feel the room. Feel their eyes, are they fully present? This one is tough; it’s an intuition thing, really. Feel free to elaborate if you have found *secrets* I have yet to be able to articulate.

I haven’t been gifted with dancing skills that’s why, I believe, people like you are especially blessed. I want to enjoy dancing like “real dancers” like you. You dance with passion and every step seems so easy. There is joy when I watch dancers do their movements. I wish I can learn dancing like an eight-year-old student - without fear. I wish you well in your endeavor and may you share your dancing skills with the rest of humanity.